A man was found shot and critically wounded near a recreation center in Southeast Washington on Wednesday afternoon, D.C. police said. He later died at a hospital.

The “brazen” daylight shooting happened about 3:30 p.m. in the 700 block of Yuma Street SE, near the Ferebee-Hope Recreation Center in the Washington Highlands neighborhood, Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said during a news conference. No children were outside when the shots were fired, she said.

The victim was believed to be in his late teens.

— Clarence Williams

Minimum wage hike is signed into law

Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) signed a bill Wednesday that provides D.C. workers one of the nation’s highest minimum wages, giving support to a measure after months of public skepticism.

The measure, passed by the D.C. Council in September, raises the wage in steps, culminating in an $11.50 minimum in July 2016. The rate will be reset on a yearly basis thereafter based on the region’s cost of living.

While Gray called for a minimum wage increase in September — on the day he vetoed a council bill mandating a special minimum wage for big retail chains — he refrained from endorsing any particular rate and called for months of study before moving forward with any hike. Only on the eve of council action did he endorse a $10-an-hour rate, which would have been higher than the $9.50 rate expected to take effect this July, but would have fallen behind a year later, when the rate moves to $10.50.

Gray made little mention of his earlier hesitance after signing the bill.

— Mike DeBonis

VIRGINIA

VRE train strikes, kills 22-year-old

A 22-year-old woman was struck and killed by a Virginia Railroad Express train Wednesday morning as she walked across tracks.

Fairfax County police said in a news release that the train, traveling south from Washington to Manassas, hit Danyelle Lynn Anderson just after 7 a.m.

The release described conditions as “foggy and dark” and said that the engineer applied the emergency brake and sounded the horn as soon as he saw the woman, after rounding a slight curve just past the Burke station. Police said the train slowed but was unable to avoid hitting Anderson, and described her death as an accident.

— Julie Zauzmer

Birds thrown off by cold weather

Some members of a family of water birds are reportedly experiencing an inconvenient layover in Northern Virginia, most likely knocked off course by last week’s cold snap.

Usually bound for the Gulf and Pacific coasts this time of year, the eared grebe has been turning up on the ground across Northern Virginia, prompting an alert of “downed” birds, according to Fairfax County police. The department runs animal control services in the county.

At least five of the birds were found, said Lucy Caldwell, a Fairfax police spokeswoman.